Andrew Silva was killed in a Fremont crash a month after returning from Afghanistan.

Andrew Silva was killed in a Fremont crash a month after returning from Afghanistan.

Photo: Department Of Motor Vehicles

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Prosecutors say Yohn downed several whiskey drinks before crashing into
and killing Silva, who was riding a motorcycle, at Fremont Boulevard and
Decoto Road.

Prosecutors say Yohn downed several whiskey drinks before crashing into
and killing Silva, who was riding a motorcycle, at Fremont Boulevard and
Decoto Road.

Photo: Google Maps

Image 4 of 4

Fremont police sued over chase, crash that killed Marine

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The family of a U.S. Marine who was struck and killed by a suspect fleeing from Fremont police has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and the officer involved in the chase.

Andrew Silva, 23, of Union City died on March 25, 2014, just a month after returning from Afghanistan. Silva was a Marine lance corporal.

The defendant, Emeryville resident Alexander Yohn, 24, is awaiting trial on charges of murder, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit and run, all felonies. He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Prosecutors say Yohn downed several shots of whiskey before crashing into and killing Silva, who was riding a motorcycle, at Fremont Boulevard and Decoto Road.

But in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court, Silva’s parents, Linus and Elsie Silva, placed the blame on the city and Officer Steven Nordseth for chasing Yohn.

Nordseth “knew or should have known that Mr. Yohn was operating his vehicle while under the influence of drugs and alcohol,” says the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

The complaint also accuses police of leaving Silva’s body in the street for more than 12 hours and refusing to let his family identify him.

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Geneva Bosques, a Fremont police spokeswoman, declined to comment on the suit.

According to prosecutors, Yohn refused offers for a ride after a night of bar-hopping and got behind the wheel.

Yohn, a self-described heroin addict and alcoholic who listed his occupation as an emergency medical technician, has a previous drunken-driving conviction in Minnesota, records show.

Police said Yohn drank his first whiskey about 9:30 p.m. at a Fremont bar and drank at least three more at a second bar. He left at midnight over the protestations of a woman who begged him not to drive and had called his roommate to come pick him up, Fremont police Officer Alan Zambonin wrote in an affidavit.

About 1 a.m., an employee of a Taco Bell near Fremont Boulevard and Bonde Way saw Yohn appearing intoxicated and causing a disturbance while behind the wheel of a Mini Cooper in the drive-through line, police said. Yohn tried to pay for food with a health care card and then left his wallet behind, police said.

The employee called police. Yohn sped north on Fremont Boulevard, and Nordseth spotted him while driving in the opposite direction and tried to stop him, authorities said.

Yohn allegedly ran a red light at Decoto Road and collided with Silva, who died at the scene.